 "Facebook's election initiatives see active response from users")
With over 100 million users in India, social networking giant Facebook is seeing a strong response to several initiatives and features they have launched targeting the ongoing general elections.
Among others, Facebook’s ‘I am a Voter’ button has seen two million clicks until the end of the recently concluded Phase-III of elections which included all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, apart from several seats in states & Union territories like Odisha, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, among others.
The ‘I am a Voter’ button on the Facebook page is visible to voters only on the day of polling in their areas. It allows users above 18 years of age, who access Facebook through mobile phone, to post a story to their Facebook timeline, sharing that they are voting in this election.
Within 24 hours of the announcement of the election schedule in March this year, mentions of election among Facebook users went up by 561 per cent. The social networking platform currently has 52,000 political pages, of which 100 are verified by it.
Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the most popular Indian politician on Facebook, with 12 million fans. Globally, in terms of number of followers, he is next only to US President Barack Obama. The second most popular Indian politician is Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, with 5 million followers.
Among others, Facebook has launched features such as ‘Register to Vote’ whereby users can add an update about having registered to vote to their timeline as a life event. The social networking website has also launched features like ‘Election Menu - Facebook on USSD’ which provides up-to-date information on candidates, and ‘India Election Tracker’ where users can watch live streams of candidates. They can also participate in polls about issues that matter and compare how much the Facebook community is talking about leading candidates and parties over time.
With the success of these online initiatives, Facebook has also launched a series of ‘town halls’ across several cities in India. These town halls are interactive platforms where around 50 residents of a city come together and talk about issues that are most relevant to them when it comes to elections. Facebook recently concluded its first town hall in Amritsar on Friday, which saw participation from students, academicians and farmers, among others. They discussed issues such as unemployment, crime, drug addiction and corruption.
Similar town halls will be hosted in Vadodara and Varanasi closer to elections.
“Our global mission is 'building an open and connected world' and all these initiatives are aimed towards the same,” Das said. “The town halls will generate a multi-platform effect by getting Facebook users physically together.”
Among others, Facebook’s ‘I am a Voter’ button has seen two million clicks until the end of the recently concluded Phase-III of elections which included all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, apart from several seats in states & Union territories like Odisha, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, among others.
The ‘I am a Voter’ button on the Facebook page is visible to voters only on the day of polling in their areas. It allows users above 18 years of age, who access Facebook through mobile phone, to post a story to their Facebook timeline, sharing that they are voting in this election.
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“Politics and elections is a global priority for Facebook,” said Ankhi Das, public policy director, Facebook India & South Asia. “At the time of the last Lok Sabha elections (in 2009), we were not that big a community. But this time, we are playing a vital role because the number of users has grown dramatically. We are a 100 million-strong community today in India and that is a very substantial chunk of voters,” she added.
Within 24 hours of the announcement of the election schedule in March this year, mentions of election among Facebook users went up by 561 per cent. The social networking platform currently has 52,000 political pages, of which 100 are verified by it.
Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the most popular Indian politician on Facebook, with 12 million fans. Globally, in terms of number of followers, he is next only to US President Barack Obama. The second most popular Indian politician is Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, with 5 million followers.
Among others, Facebook has launched features such as ‘Register to Vote’ whereby users can add an update about having registered to vote to their timeline as a life event. The social networking website has also launched features like ‘Election Menu - Facebook on USSD’ which provides up-to-date information on candidates, and ‘India Election Tracker’ where users can watch live streams of candidates. They can also participate in polls about issues that matter and compare how much the Facebook community is talking about leading candidates and parties over time.
With the success of these online initiatives, Facebook has also launched a series of ‘town halls’ across several cities in India. These town halls are interactive platforms where around 50 residents of a city come together and talk about issues that are most relevant to them when it comes to elections. Facebook recently concluded its first town hall in Amritsar on Friday, which saw participation from students, academicians and farmers, among others. They discussed issues such as unemployment, crime, drug addiction and corruption.
Similar town halls will be hosted in Vadodara and Varanasi closer to elections.
“Our global mission is 'building an open and connected world' and all these initiatives are aimed towards the same,” Das said. “The town halls will generate a multi-platform effect by getting Facebook users physically together.”